Sokon Matsumura
Okinawan martial arts master from Shuri (1809–1899), holder of a Jigen-ryu swordsmanship licence, to whom the principles of the seven virtues of bu are attributed.
Quick Facts
JapanBiography
Sokon Matsumura was an Okinawan martial arts master from Shuri in the Ryukyu Kingdom. According to the government portal Okinawa Karate, he was born in 1809 in Yamagawa village in Shuri and died in 1899, the dates also on the family grave. Other sources give 1800 to 1892 or other combinations.
He belonged to the rank-and-file nobility with the rank chikudun pechin. The portal says he made four overseas journeys, two to Fuzhou in China and two to Satsuma, where under Yahachiro Ijuin he learned Jigen-ryu swordsmanship and won the full menkyo kaiden licence. Sources name Kanga Sakugawa and Choken Makabe as his karate teachers, but the portal does not consider this confirmed.
Researchers hold that the one-strike principle of the Jigen-ryu school strongly influenced his approach to karate. To his oldest student Kuwae he left principles on the unity of writing and fighting and on the seven virtues of bu. The scroll bearing them is kept by the Okinawa Prefectural Museum. In his last years he taught in the royal villa Ochaya Goten in Shuri. Of his students, Choki Motobu is best documented, and English Wikipedia names several others, including Anko Itosu.
According to the portal, the claim that he was a personal bodyguard of three kings matches no official function of the Ryukyuan government. Sources do not document the legend that he was never beaten. We have not found a quotation with a documented origin.
Early life
According to the government portal Okinawa Karate, Sokon Matsumura was born in 1809 in the village of Yamagawa in Shuri and belonged to the rank-and-file nobility with the rank of chikudun pechin. In a note the portal adds that some sources give the year 1800. The family had the years 1809 to 1899 carved on the grave, which Olaf Steinbrecher defends as the best documented. Other variants given are 1798 to 1890, 1800 to 1892, 1809 to 1896 and 1809 to 1901.
Training and teachers
The government portal states that some sources name Kanga Sakugawa and Choken Makabe as his karate teachers, but neither is confirmed. Andreas Quast accepts Matsumura as a student of Sakugawa on the basis of the research of Hiroshi Kinjo. According to the portal, he made four overseas journeys, two to Fuzhou in China and two to Satsuma. In Satsuma he learned the swordsmanship of the Jigen-ryu school under Yahachiro Ijuin and obtained the full licence menkyo kaiden, according to the journalist Shigeru Sakuda already after half a year.
Contribution and innovations
According to researchers, as stated by the government portal, the one-strike principle of the Jigen-ryu school strongly influenced his approach to karate. To his oldest student Kuwae he left principles on the unity of writing and fighting and on the seven virtues of bu. Seikichi Nagamine saw the handwritten scroll in 1951 and a year later published its transcription, and the attribution to Matsumura rests mainly on Nagamine's testimony. The scroll is now kept by the Okinawa Prefectural Museum. English Wikipedia credits him with handing down the katas Naihanchi, Passai, Seisan, Chinto, Gojushiho and Kusanku.
Legends and documented facts
According to the government portal, the function of personal bodyguard of the three kings Sho Ko, Sho Iku and Sho Tai was not an official function of the Ryukyuan government, but rather a private or temporary role. The legend that he was never defeated comes from Gichin Funakoshi and has no documentation. The portal describes the story of the fight with a bull as partly invented. There are no records of training in Shaolin, and the portal speaks only of journeys to Fuzhou. English Wikipedia gives the year of entry into royal service as 1836, the website World Budokan as 1826.
Legacy
In his last years he taught students in the royal villa Ochaya Goten in the part of Shuri called Sakiyama. His direct student Choki Motobu described in the book Watashi no Karate-jutsu Matsumura's training focused on the analysis of katas, kumite and the use of strength. English Wikipedia also counts among his students these masters: Anko Asato, Anko Itosu, Kentsu Yabu, Chomo Hanashiro, Chotoku Kyan and Gichin Funakoshi, but a better source does not confirm Funakoshi. The writer Bin Konno wrote about him the novel Sokon, which was serialised in the newspaper Ryukyu Shimpo in 213 instalments.
Teachers, students and family
Associated Martial Arts
A family of Okinawan lineages descending from Shuri-te. The name points to Shaolin, but that is a claim to the tradition, not evidence of a direct line.
Shuri-teMaster→A historical stream of Okinawan karate from the royal city of Shuri, linked with Matsumura Sokon and Itosu Anko. It gave rise to Kobayashi-ryu, Shorin-ryu and Japanese Shotokan.